On 20 April 2017, three French National Police officers were shot by Karim Cheurfi, a French national wielding an AK-47 rifle on the Champs-Élysées, a shopping boulevard in Paris, France. One officer, French National Police Captain Xavier Jugelé, was killed and two other French National Police officers and a German female tourist, were seriously wounded. Karim Cheurfi was then shot dead by police. Amaq News Agency, which is linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), claimed the attacker was an ISIS fighter. French police and prosecutors are investigating the attack as terrorism, and have launched a counter-terrorism prosecution.[1]

The attacker was identified as French national Karim Cheurfi, who had an extensive criminal record that included a conviction and a twelve-year prison sentence for an earlier attempt to murder two police officers. Police found a note praising ISIS, along with addresses of police stations, on his body. Because the attack took place immediately before the country's 2017 presidential election, media reports commented on its possible influence in the election's tone.

The attack is understood as part of a shift in ISIS strategy towards encouraging untrained ISIS sympathizers to undertake attacks with crude weapons, caused by improved security in E U countries and by the loss of capacity to direct attacks from and train operatives in the Middle East as ISIS steadily lost territory in Syria.[6]

At about 9:00 pm, Karim Cheurfi drove his vehicle next to a French National Police van. The French National Police officers were guarding the entrance of the Centre Culturel Anatolie, a Turkish cultural centre located at 102 Avenue des Champs-Elysées[7][8] near the Franklin D. Rooseveltmetro station and the Marks & Spencer store.[9] Karim Cheurfi quickly got out of his car and started firing an AK-47 rifle[10] into the van. Three officers were struck, one fatally.[11][12] Cheurfi then attempted to flee on foot, firing at other people as he did, but was shot and killed by other responding officers.[12][13] A female German tourist was also injured by "fragments from the shooting".[14]

The Avenue des Champs-Elysées was closed down and civilians were evacuated.[15] On social media, Paris police warned people to stay away from the area and said there was a "police intervention underway".[16] Investigators initially said the incident may have been related to a robbery,[17] but an anti-terror investigation was later launched.[11] A pump-action shotgun, ammunition, two kitchen knives, and shears were found in the gunman's car.[18]Amaq News Agency placed responsibility for the attack on the Islamic State.[19]

Amaq News Agency, which is linked to the Islamic State (ISIS), said the shooter was an ISIS fighter, giving his pseudonym as Abu Yusuf al-Beljiki.[16][30] The claim suggested the attacker was from Belgium.[14] News outlets commented that the timing of the claim was "unusually swift".[13][19][31] French police identified the attacker as 39-year-old Karim Cheurfi, born in Livry-Gargan in 1977 and living in Chelles, east of Paris.[32][33] French prosecutors said that a note praising ISIS fell out of his pocket after he was shot, and that he was carrying addresses of police stations.[34]

At the time of the shooting, Cheurfi was already well known to the DGSI, France's domestic security service. He had an extensive criminal record for violent robberies and a shooting in 2001, in which he shot two police officers when they pulled him over. He wounded one of the officers after grabbing his gun while he was being questioned.[15][29] He was convicted of attempted murder in 2005 and he was sentenced to twenty years in prison, which was later shortened to fifteen years. Despite a history of violence while behind bars, he was released in October 2015.[35]

He had been detained in February 2017 for allegedly making threats to kill police, but was released due to lack of evidence. No evidence of radicalization was found, and he was never placed on a terror watch list.[29][35][36][33] He was, however, added to a "radicalisation and terror prevention and alert list" created in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shooting, but he was not considered a priority.[37]CNN reported that a source close to the investigation said police had launched a counter-terrorism investigation in March 2017 after learning of his attempts to establish communication with an ISIS fighter.[34]AFP reported that police were aware of an attempt by Cheurfi to buy weapons in early 2016, with the intent of using them to kill French police officers in retaliation for the deaths of children in the Syrian Civil War.[38] His home in Chelles[14] was searched after the attack.[12]

Cheurfi's former lawyer said he was "extremely isolated" and a "psychologically fragile character" whose mental problems were not treated. He added that he never spoke about religion and talked mainly about "how to fill his daily life with video games". Cheurfi had visited Algeria sometime before the shooting, allegedly to get married. This was a breach of his parole, following which he was interviewed by the authorities, though a judge decided not to revoke his probation.[39][40]

Following Cheurfi's identification, three members of his family were arrested in Chelles in the early morning of 21 April,[29] although investigators believe Cheurfi acted alone[41] and was inspired by ISIS but was not necessarily a member.[35]

President François Hollande called for an emergency security meeting at the Élysée Palace.[3] He later released a statement saying French police suspected the shooting was a terrorist attack.[2][13] He also stated that the security forces are to handle the situation with "utmost vigilance" to ensure the security of the presidential election.[42]

Following the shooting, US President Donald Trump expressed his condolences to the people of France and said, "[W]e have to be strong and we have to be vigilant."[43] Trump later expressed his belief that the attack would have "a big effect" on the French presidential election.[36]

As the attack occurred during a televised debate among all eleven candidates in the election, fears arose that extremists were hoping to influence the debate's tone.[48] With terrorism and security high priorities for Paris, The Guardian noted that the attack might serve as "ammunition" for right-wing candidates such as National Front leader Marine Le Pen, considered an outlier for her views on stronger border security and the deportation of radicalized foreigners, as well as Fillon.[44]

Bernard Cazeneuve, the French Prime Minister, criticized Le Pen's and Fillon's responses. He accused Le Pen of trying to exploit the shooting for politics and attacked her for demanding further security measures. He explained that she had voted against the government efforts on security previously, referring to her party voting against an anti-terrorism law in 2014 and against beefing up of resources for French intelligence services in 2015. He criticized Fillon's record on security during his term as Prime Minister.[49][50]

1.
Paris
–
Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town

2.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation

3.
Shooting
–
Shooting is the act or process of discharging firearms or other projectile weapons such as bows or crossbows. Even the firing of artillery, darts, grenades, rockets, a person who specializes in shooting is a marksman. Shooting can take place in a range or in the field in hunting, in shooting sports. Marksmanship has inspired competition, and in several countries rifle clubs started to form in the 19th century, soon international shooting events evolved, including shooting at the Summer and winter Olympics and World Championships. Shooting technique differs depending on factors like the type of firearm used, the distance to and nature of the target, the precision. Breathing and position play an important role when handling a handgun or a rifle, some shooting sports, such as IPSC shooting, make a sport of combat style shooting. The prone position, kneeling position, and standing position offer different amounts of support for the shooter, shooting most often refers to the use of a firearm, although is also used to describe the firing of a bow or crossbow. A person who shoots is called a shooter, the term weapon does not necessarily mean however that it is used as a weapon, but as a piece of equipment to help the user achieve the best in which they can in the sport. Shooting is used for hunting game birds such as grouse or pheasant, rabbits, culling, deer hunting, or other wild game animals. Clay pigeon shooting is meant to simulate shooting live pigeons released from traps, sometimes shooting refers to the hunting activity itself. Shooting is also used in warfare, self-defense, crime, duels were sometimes held using guns. Shooting without a target has applications such as gunfire, 21-gun salute, or firing starting pistols. In many countries, there are restrictions on what kind of firearm can be bought and by whom, leading to debate about how effective such measures are, attitudes in the United States are very different from those in the United Kingdom

4.
AK-47
–
The AK-47, or AK as it is officially known is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7. 62×39 mm assault rifle, developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known in the Soviet documentation as Avtomat Kalashnikova, Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year of World War II. In 1946, the AK-47 was presented for military trials, and in 1948. An early development of the design was the AKS, which was equipped with a metal shoulder stock. In the spring of 1949, the AK-47 was officially accepted by the Soviet Armed Forces, as of 2004, Of the estimated 500 million firearms worldwide, approximately 100 million belong to the Kalashnikov family, three-quarters of which are AK-47s. During World War II, the Sturmgewehr 44 assault rifle used by German forces made an impression on their Soviet counterparts. The select-fire rifle was chambered for a new cartridge, the 7. 92×33mm Kurz. On 15 July 1943, a model of the Sturmgewehr was demonstrated before the Peoples Commissariat of Arms of the USSR. The Soviets soon developed the 7. 62×39mm M43 cartridge, the semi-automatic SKS carbine, shortly after World War II, the Soviets developed the AK-47 assault rifle, which would quickly replace the SKS in Soviet service. Mikhail Kalashnikov began his career as a designer in 1941, while recuperating from a shoulder wound. I was a soldier, and I created a gun for a soldier. It was called an Avtomat Kalashnikova, the weapon of Kalashnikov—AK—and it carried the date of its first manufacture,1947. The AK-47 is best described as a hybrid of previous rifle technology innovations, Kalashnikov decided to design an automatic rifle combining the best features of the American M1 and the German StG44. Kalashnikovs team had access to weapons and had no need to reinvent the wheel. Kalashnikov himself observed, A lot of Russian Army soldiers ask me how one can become a constructor, each designer seems to have his own paths, his own successes and failures. But one thing is clear, before attempting to create something new, I myself have had many experiences confirming this to be so. There are claims about Kalashnikov copying other designs, like Bulkins TKB-415 or Simonovs AVS-31, Kalashnikov started work on a submachine gun design in 1942 and with a light machine gun in 1943. Early in 1944, Kalashnikov was given some M19437. 62×39mm cartridges and it was suggested to him that this new weapon might well lead to greater things, and he undertook work on the new rifle

5.
Jewish Museum of Belgium shooting
–
On 24 May 2014, a gunman opened fire at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels, Belgium, killing four people. Three died at the scene, a fourth was taken to the hospital, the attack is being investigated as terrorism by Belgian authorities. On 30 May, Mehdi Nemmouche, a 29-year-old French national of Algerian origin, was arrested at Marseille in connection with the shooting and he is believed to have spent over a year in Syria and had links with radical Islamists. A man wearing a cap, carrying bags and armed with a handgun. He then opened fire, killing three people on site and critically wounding a fourth, who was taken to hospital. He later died of his injuries on 6 June, the attack lasted less than 90 seconds, after which the shooter fled the scene on foot and was partially captured by security cameras. According to police, he headed into a different part of downtown Brussels before disappearing, the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Didier Reynders, happened to be in the vicinity of the museum and heard the gunshots. The Minister of the Interior, Joëlle Milquet, was also nearby, four people were killed in the shooting. Two of the victims were Israelis, Emanuel and Miriam Riva, a young Belgian man who worked at the museum, Alexandre Strens, was critically wounded and eventually died of his wounds on 6 June. He was born in Morocco to a Jewish mother and Algerian Berber father, a nationwide manhunt was launched for the attacker, who was described as being of medium height and athletic build, and wearing a dark baseball cap. His image, partly obscured, was captured on CCTV, a man who was seen driving from the museum was detained, but released after questioning, and remains a witness in the investigation. Deputy prosecutor Ine Van Wymersch said the shooter acted alone, was armed. She stated that the motive for the attack was still open, the attack was being investigated as a terrorist incident. Mehdi Nemmouche, a 29-year-old French national, was arrested on 30 May at the Saint-Charles railway station in Marseille in connection with the shooting, Nemmouche is suspected to have returned to France from fighting for Islamist rebels in the Syrian Civil War in 2013. He appears to have recorded a video bearing the flag of the rebel group Islamic State in Iraq and his father abandoned his mother before he was born and he was raised primarily by his grandmother and in group homes. Prior to leaving for Syria, he already had a criminal history, including arrests for armed robbery, vehicle theft. He reportedly told hostages in Syria he was planning an attack in Paris on Bastille Day and he had previously spent five years in prison where he is suspected to have been radicalized by Islamic teachings. He left for Syria only three weeks after being released from prison in September 2012, if proven guilty, he will be the first European volunteer in the Syrian war who committed attacks upon returning to Europe

6.
2015 Copenhagen shootings
–
On 14–15 February 2015, three separate shootings occurred in Copenhagen, Denmark. In total, two victims and the perpetrator were killed, while five officers were wounded. Lars Vilks is often described as the target because of his drawings of Muhammad. The second shooting took place later that night, outside the citys Great Synagogue in Krystalgade, a gunman killed a young Jewish man on security duty during a bat mitzvah celebration, and wounded two police officers. Later that morning near Nørrebro station, police tracking the suspect shot and killed a man, the man was identified as Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein, whom police said was responsible for both attacks. Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks had been the subject of threats from Islamic extremists in the wake of the controversy over his drawings of Muhammad in 2007. The debate, organized by the Lars Vilks Committee, was scheduled to include discussion on the attack that January against the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, an armed man attempted to make his way into the cultural centre while avoiding the main entrance. After failing to do so, at 15,33 he encountered 55-year-old film director Finn Nørgaard, who tried to stop him, Nørgaard was attending the event but was on his way to the backyard just for a moment when he faced the gunman. The attacker then fired 27 more rounds from the weapon through the window of the cultural centre. Two of the officers were bodyguards belonging to the Danish Security. The three Danish police officers, along with two Swedish officers assigned to protect Vilks, returned fire and the attacker fled, at least 30 bullet holes were visible in the window of the centre. During the attack, the Ambassador threw himself on the ground, according to François Zimeray, Lars Vilks was the pretext, but we were all the target. After the attack, the hijacked and fled in a dark-coloured Volkswagen Polo. Police warned eyewitnesses to contact them directly, without approaching the vehicle, the car was later found abandoned a few kilometres away. The Swedish police officers had the impression that they hit the attacker, at 00,50 on 15 February 2015, a second shooting took place at the Great Synagogue on Krystalgade in central Copenhagen. A bat mitzvah ceremony attended by 80 people was taking place there, the gunman also shot and wounded two officers of the Danish Security and Intelligence Service in the arms and legs. The gunman escaped without managing to enter the building and was not injured by shots fired by the officers, police evacuated nearby Nørreport Station, the countrys busiest rail hub, and did not allow any trains to stop there. Security forces observed the shooter on CCTV coverage, in the early morning of 15 February, the man approached an apartment building the police had under surveillance, which the shooter had visited between the two attacks

7.
2015 Thalys train attack
–
On 21 August 2015, a shooting and stabbing incident took place on board a Thalys train in France on its way from Amsterdam to Paris. Including the assailant, four people were injured, none fatally, the incident is believed by French police to be an Islamist terrorist attack, although the gunman claimed the motivation was robbery due to hunger. Several people who subdued the attacker were awarded Frances highest decoration and he was shirtless and armed with an AKM assault rifle, for which he had nine magazines and a total of 270 rounds of ammunition. He was also carrying a pistol and a bottle of petrol, a 28-year-old Frenchman, whose name was released only as Damien A. was heading to the toilet as the armed gunman was exiting. Damien A. attempted to restrain or disarm the gunman but fell to the floor in the ensuing struggle, an American-born Frenchman, 51-year-old Mark Moogalian, attempted to wrest the rifle from the gunman, who then drew a semi-automatic 9mm Luger pistol. Moogalian was shot through the back of the neck, seriously injured, the assailant also tried to fire his rifle, but it jammed. The gunman was then tackled and subdued by a group of three American friends, two of them off-duty members of the U. S and they were identified as 23-year-old Airman First Class Spencer Stone, 23-year-old Anthony Sadler, and 22-year-old Specialist Alek Skarlatos. Sadler told CNN that Skarlatos yelled Get him, after which Spencer immediately gets up to charge the guy, followed by Alek, then myself. In an interview with Sky News, Skarlatos added that they had been lucky that the rifle had jammed. Stone was reportedly the first of the three Americans to attack the gunman and was slashed multiple times while trying to subdue him, sustaining injuries to the hand, head, and neck. Stone put him in a chokehold, holding on though the assailant was cutting him with a box cutter, Skarlatos seized the assailants rifle and beat him in the head with its muzzle until the assailant was unconscious. A British passenger, 62-year-old Chris Norman, and a French train driver came to their aid to hold the gunman down and they used Normans T-shirt to tie his arms behind his back. The passengers then helped Moogalian, who had blood pouring from the due to his gunshot wound. Stone, who is a medic, initially tried to wrap his shirt around the wound, despite having an injured hand, however, he realized it was not going to be effective in stopping the bleeding. Instead, he stuck two of his fingers into Moogalians wound and pushed down on what he thought was an artery, the train, which was carrying 554 passengers, was passing Oignies in the Pas-de-Calais department when the attack took place. It was rerouted to the station of nearby Arras, Moogalian was airlifted to the University Hospital in Lille, while Stone was later treated for wounds on his thumb, an eye injury, and other minor wounds. The remaining passengers were all brought to a gym in Arras, ayoub El Khazzani, a 25-year-old man from Morocco, was identified as the suspected assailant by French and Spanish authorities, he had boarded the train in Brussels. He carried no identification but was identified by his fingerprints, prior to the attempted attack, he had resided in Aubervilliers, Seine-Saint-Denis, France, since 2014

8.
France
–
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks

Paris
–
Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the ar

1.
In the 1860s Paris streets and monuments were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, making it literally "The City of Light."

3.
Gold coins minted by the Parisii (1st century BC)

4.
The Palais de la Cité and Sainte-Chapelle, viewed from the Left Bank, from the Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry (month of June) (1410)

Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a

1.
Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.

Shooting
–
Shooting is the act or process of discharging firearms or other projectile weapons such as bows or crossbows. Even the firing of artillery, darts, grenades, rockets, a person who specializes in shooting is a marksman. Shooting can take place in a range or in the field in hunting, in shooting sports. Marksmanship has inspired competition, and in sev

AK-47
–
The AK-47, or AK as it is officially known is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7. 62×39 mm assault rifle, developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known in the Soviet documentation as Avtomat Kalashnikova, Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year of World War II. In 1946, the AK-47 was presented for military trial

1.
AK-47 with first generation bayonet

2.
AKMS with a stamped Type 4B receiver (top), and an AK-47 with a milled Type 2A receiver

3.
A Type 2 AK-47, the first machined receiver variation

4.
1955 AK-47 with a milled Type 3A receiver showing the milled lightening cut on the side above the magazine that for Type 3 receivers is slanted to the barrel axis

Jewish Museum of Belgium shooting
–
On 24 May 2014, a gunman opened fire at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels, Belgium, killing four people. Three died at the scene, a fourth was taken to the hospital, the attack is being investigated as terrorism by Belgian authorities. On 30 May, Mehdi Nemmouche, a 29-year-old French national of Algerian origin, was arrested at Marseille in

1.
The Jewish Museum of Belgium, pictured in 2009

2015 Copenhagen shootings
–
On 14–15 February 2015, three separate shootings occurred in Copenhagen, Denmark. In total, two victims and the perpetrator were killed, while five officers were wounded. Lars Vilks is often described as the target because of his drawings of Muhammad. The second shooting took place later that night, outside the citys Great Synagogue in Krystalgade,

1.
Press behind police cordon in front of Krudttønden on 15 February

2.
Købmagergade cordoned off by the police 200 m east of the Great Synagogue three hours after the shooting there

3.
Omar El-Hussein

2015 Thalys train attack
–
On 21 August 2015, a shooting and stabbing incident took place on board a Thalys train in France on its way from Amsterdam to Paris. Including the assailant, four people were injured, none fatally, the incident is believed by French police to be an Islamist terrorist attack, although the gunman claimed the motivation was robbery due to hunger. Seve

1.
A Thalys train operating the same route, leaving Amsterdam in June 2014

2.
Chris Norman, Anthony Sadler, President Hollande, Spencer Stone and Alek Skarlatos after their Legion of Honor ceremony at the Élysée Palace on August 25, 2015

France
–
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territ

1.
One of the Lascaux paintings: a horse – Dordogne, approximately 18,000 BC

2.
Flag

3.
The Maison Carrée was a temple of the Gallo-Roman city of Nemausus (present-day Nîmes) and is one of the best preserved vestiges of the Roman Empire.

4.
With Clovis ' conversion to Catholicism in 498, the Frankish monarchy, elective and secular until then, became hereditary and of divine right.

1.
Pro-regime demonstration in Latakia, heartland of Assad's Alawite people

2.
Current military situation: Red: Government, Yellow: Kurds (Rojava), Grey: Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, White: al-Nusra Front, Green: Opposition (for a more detailed map, see Cities and towns during the Syrian Civil War). Map above was last updated on 11 November 2015.